The Boy-Worn Path

Jesse Doiron

October 18, 2021

Over a field of green,

the boy-worn path extends

from me to you,

then back again.

And where it starts

it also ends.

No need to look,

bare feet can feel the way.

They often do each day,

when arm in arm,

we walked as one,

as if we had no place to go

but where we were,

and back again.

No need to run apace,

our way can wait.

It always did.

And we can never separate,

for we are friends,

both then, and now,

somehow, at both our ends,

where over the field between,

a boy-worn path extends

from you to me, always,

and always back, again.

Jesse Doiron spent 13 years overseas in countries where he often felt as if he were a “thing” that had human qualities but couldn’t communicate them. He teaches college, now, to people a third his age. He still feels, often, as if he is a “thing” that has human qualities but can’t communicate them.